Last year Universal Pictures relaunched the Jurassic Park franchise with Colin Trevorrow’s box office smash Jurassic World, the first chapter of a new trilogy of movies. It was marketed as a fresh start, as opposed to Jurassic Park 4,. However, with J.A. Bayona gearing up to go into production on the sequel, the director has revealed that he considers the next instalment to be both Jurassic World 2 and Jurassic Park 5.
“I think somehow it’s both,” Bayona told CinemaBlend. “It’s a very good question, and what we’re doing is a sequel to Jurassic World, but it’s definitely the fifth chapter of a longer saga. It’s very interesting. It’s always tricky, but you need to find a balance in what people expect to find, and the new stuff you’re bringing to the story. And I think the story is looking for a connection between Jurassic World and Jurassic Park — more than what Jurassic World did.”
“I think what this film does is it’s the second chapter of the story that started in Jurassic World, and it’s open to a third chapter too,” he continued. “It’s very interesting in the way that we’re approaching the story, and where we are leading the story. We’re leading the story to a place that the audience is not expecting, and that’s always exciting when you do a sequel.”
Details on the plot for Jurassic World 2 are being kept under wraps, although Bayona has previously suggested that it may explore dinosaurs as “a parable of the treatment of today’s animals: abuse, experiments in medicine, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, and military use.”
Jurassic World 2 is set for release on June 22nd 2018, and will see Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprising their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing alonsgide new additions Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger) and Rafe Spall (Black Mirror).
Originally published November 14, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
